Changes in the cervical spine in Association Football players

Abstract

Forty-three former players for the National Football Team of Norway were examined clinically and radiologically for degenerative changes in the cervical spine. Compared with men of the same age groups the onset of degeneration was 10-20 years earlier and the frequency of degeneration was significantly higher. Degenerative changes were not especially high in "headers", but this group had a higher frequency of subjective complaints and clinical findings such as reduced cervical movements.

Cervical disc herniation in a football player.

“…The cervical spine in football players is repeatedly exposed to potential injury forces in heading as well as in other parts of the game. This is probably the reason why the frequency and the degree of degenerative changes of the cervical spine was found to be significantly higher in football players than in a control group of the same age as reported by Sortland et al (1982). Footballers aged 40 years had degen-erative changes of the cervical spine corresponding to 50 to 60 year old patients who had not played football seriously.…”

Heading in Soccer

“…When evaluating the previous studies by Tysvaer et al [5][6][7], Sortland et al [8,9], and Matser et al [22•], the reported incidence of concussion is low when compared with what has been reported in the American college game and other more recent literature [29,30]. There has been a significant increase in the research of mTBI in sport [24,[31][32][33], and with this several improvements in detection and treatment of these injuries.…”

“…Several athletes reported one or more head injuries associated with loss of consciousness (LOC) or amnesia, as well as protracted complaints after heading; neither of these was associated with central atrophy. In a separate study by Sortland et al [8], 40-year-old players were found to have degenerative changes in the cervical spine. The authors concluded that these advanced changes, similar to those seen in 50-to 60-year-old nonplayers, were a result of chronic heading activity.…”

“…Although there have been studies in older former professional players that raise concern [5][6][7][8][9], these older studies often evaluated players several years after their career was complete, and several confounding variables were not controlled. In addition, in these studies the incidence of concussion was very low, raising the possibility that these injuries might have been missed.…”

Osteoarthrosis in runners with knee pain.

“…Thus osteoarthrosis of the elbow has been reported in tennis players (Priest et al, 1977), the cervical spine in footballers (Sortland et al, 1982) and the patella in cyclists (Bagneres, 1967). These findings support the hypothesis that repetitive high stress due to impulsive loading is a mechanism of joint degeneration .…”